Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 961: Chapter 680: Ghost Handprint

The man committed suicide in front of this door. Yang Xiao walked up quietly and listened behind the door for a while, but there was no sound from within.

"Let me do it." A Dark Army member stepped forward, took out a flat iron box from his backpack, opened it to reveal several tweezer-like tools and a few metal wires of different thicknesses.

Yang Xiao and the others slowly stepped back, gripping their weapons tightly. The man fiddled with the lock for half a minute before a crisp sound of a spring releasing was heard. At Yang Xiao’s signal, the man instantly pulled the door open and stepped back.

Upon seeing the scene inside, Yang Xiao and his team were startled to find a dimly lit chandelier on, with Wu Zhengwu and his team members all present, looking flustered and intently at the door, drawing their weapons one after another.

Upon recognizing the faces of those who arrived, Wu Zhengwu’s tense expression faded, replaced by ecstatic joy, "Captain Yang!!"

He ordered his men to lower their weapons and strode toward Yang Xiao, "Captain Yang, you’re finally here, I..."

"Stop!!" Yang Xiao, showing no favor, drew his Human Bone Staff and pointed it at Wu Zhengwu. Qu Muzhi and Beibei at his side also didn’t dare to relax, fixating their gaze on the several people inside the room while the two Dark Army members at the rear kept watch over the corridor.

Startled by Yang Xiao’s outburst, Wu Zhengwu promptly raised his hands and stepped back. Yang Xiao lifted the Ghost Lantern, the chilling green light shining over Wu Zhengwu and his men, enveloping them. After a thorough check, he found no issues.

Only then did Yang Xiao breathe a sigh of relief, lowered his weapon, and walked toward Wu Zhengwu, his tone urgent, "Captain Wu, what on earth happened here?"

"We’ve been set up. Those who went into the mountains before were all killed by someone and turned into puppets. We were caught off guard and suffered a big loss. That person chased us all the way here, and we got scattered along the way. We barely made it here alive," Wu Zhengwu said, fear still evident in his eyes, showcasing the direness of the situation.

"Was it a woman who attacked you?" Qu Muzhi inquired.

"Yes, yes, it was a woman, but we didn’t see her face clearly. No one among us could match her," Wu Zhengwu admitted frankly.

Now Yang Xiao roughly understood the situation. That woman didn’t intend to kill all of Wu Zhengwu’s team; she just wanted to use him as bait to lead a tiger away from the mountain.

The goal was to lure the elite forces of the Rongcheng Patrol Division out of the city, clearing the way for the assassination operation of the Wounded Door Vice Sect Leader and others that followed.

The main force behind this operation was still the Yu Yuan Sect, and this mysterious female expert was just someone they had brought in to help.

Scanning the room, including Wu Zhengwu, there were only four people, "How many of you came?" Yang Xiao asked.

"The whole team came, nine of us including me," Wu Zhengwu answered promptly.

Yang Xiao quickly did the math: including the two turned into puppets outside the building, and the one who committed suicide by the door, two were still unaccounted for.

At this moment, Wu Zhengwu also looked through the gap between Yang Xiao and his team and saw the body lying outside the door.

"Ji Lang!!" Wu Zhengwu rushed over, and upon seeing the face of the corpse, his expression changed immediately.

Given Wu Zhengwu’s capability, he could naturally tell that his subordinate had died by suicide, "What happened, how... how come he committed suicide?" A look of disbelief was even more evident on Wu Zhengwu’s face than sorrow.

"You didn’t know?" Yang Xiao was somewhat surprised.

"We got separated. He... why was he outside our door? Why didn’t he knock?" Wu Zhengwu found it increasingly perplexing.

What happened next sent chills down everyone’s spines. According to Wu Zhengwu, they had been staying in the room and hadn’t heard any noise outside, let alone gunshots.

"So you mean to say Ji Lang didn’t commit suicide outside your door but was moved there after death?" Yang Xiao followed Wu Zhengwu’s speculation.

After pondering, Wu Zhengwu nodded heavily, "Exactly, that’s how it is!"

The next second, Wu Zhengwu seemed to suddenly remember something, his tone urgent, "Have you found He Tong? She’s in this town too."

He Tong was the Vice Captain of the Lu Ming Investigation Team. Through Wu Zhengwu’s explanation, everyone learned that they had not all entered the deep mountains for the search. This Vice Captain named He Tong and another team member were left in Jingping Town to coordinate.

In the last communication, He Tong informed Wu Zhengwu that a supernatural event seemed to be happening in Jingping Town. She had detected a suspicious signal source and was on her way to investigate it.

"We brought the latest equipment issued by the technology department when we came, which is still a new prototype and hasn’t been widely distributed yet. The device was too big and heavy to carry into the mountains, so we left it with He Tong and the others," Wu Zhengwu explained.

"Where is it located?" Beibei pulled up the electronic map, and Wu Zhengwu quickly marked the location after checking it—it was in the northeast direction of Jingping Town, with very precise coordinates. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

The electronic map showed a large factory area nearby, which of course, had long been abandoned.

Supernatural events must be addressed as a priority. There were still several hundred lives in Jingping Town at stake, and what worried Yang Xiao the most was that no one knew whether this supernatural event was mobile or even contagious.

The unusual sensation that had been enveloping Yang Xiao’s heart all this while finally found its source; ever since he set foot in Jingping Town, he felt something odd. Sure enough, his premonition was correct—an abnormal event was taking place here.

On the way there, Yang Xiao asked if anyone had made recent contact with He Tong, and Wu Zhengwu answered that he had tried calling several times but couldn’t get through, and messages were left unanswered.

The journey was not a short one; about two-thirds of the way through, while Yang Xiao was inquiring about the details of this mission from Wu Zhengwu, suddenly, a "thud" sound came from behind—someone had fallen to the ground. It was one of the two Dark Army members.

The team immediately halted, and the other Dark Army member beside the fallen one quickly bent down trying to lift him up, but the person was like a lump of mud without using any strength, startling everyone instantly.

As they turned the person over, the scene before their eyes sent a chill down their spines; the person’s eyes were wide open, lifeless.

"What... What happened?" An investigator following Wu Zhengwu visibly panicked, his lips turning pale.

Not just him, cold sweat also bled from Yang Xiao’s forehead. Although they were hurrying along, the formation was not in disarray; he walked at the forefront with Wu Zhengwu and Beibei, followed by three investigators and two Dark Army brothers, with Qu Muzhi trailing at the rear. freewebnσvel.cøm

Yet neither Yang Xiao at the front nor Qu Muzhi at the back noticed anything amiss, and a perfectly living person had died in such an obscure manner.

The group quickly examined the body and what was eerie was that there wasn’t a single wound on the corpse. It felt as though the person had died suddenly from a heart attack.

"He was always in good health; this isn’t an accident," said the remaining Dark Army member somewhat agitatedly, his gaze continually darting around the darkness.

Yang Xiao didn’t believe this was an accident either. He lit up the Ghost Lantern and shone it on the corpse, but found no issues until he had someone strip off the corpse’s clothes.

As the shirt was cut open with a dagger, under the ghastly green light’s illumination, everyone couldn’t help but gasp. At the position of the corpse’s heart, a faint handprint emerged.

The handprint was pitch-black, its fingers long and skinny, about one and a half the length of Yang Xiao’s own hand. Yang Xiao laid his hand over the handprint and realized it was the action of a "grip."

A ghost, unnoticed by everyone, had stealthily come amongst them and "gripped" the person’s heart.

Merely visualizing this scene was terrifying enough. As Yang Xiao stood up, he took a deep breath to calm his accelerated heartbeat. Had it not been for the Ghost Lantern in his hand, it’s likely everyone present would still be in the dark.

There definitely was a paranormal incident occurring here, and its level was high. On one hand, Yang Xiao had Beibei urgently report to the higher-ups, on the other hand, he lit the Ghost Lantern, trying to maximize the coverage of the green light to encompass everyone present.

"Everyone, get closer. Don’t step out of the green light’s range," Yang Xiao reminded everyone before they resumed their march, with everyone’s steps involuntarily quickening this time.

This place was too strange. What Yang Xiao hoped for now was that Captain Fang would catch that woman as soon as possible, preferably alive, as this paranormal event must be related to her. Perhaps from her, they could learn how to handle the situation.

After another stretch of walking, they finally arrived at the old factory area. Behind the red brick walls stood a dozen grey concrete buildings; somewhat reassuring was that light shone through a few windows.

On the way there, Beibei had explained that these buildings were part of the factory’s supporting facilities, originally housing the family members of the factory workers, hence were called the old family quarters. Now, with the factory closed, few people were left.

They climbed through a gap in the surrounding wall, remaining vigilant as they approached a residential building. The building, marked with the number 4, was the one closest to the abnormal signal coordinates provided by He Tong.

All the buildings here were of the same structure: six floors high, divided into two sections from left to right, each with a separate entrance and a metal gate at the bottom.

They were standing not far from the entrance to section one, where the fourth-floor room on the right-hand side showed a faint light, like a small night lamp.

The metal gate downstairs of section one was already broken and could not be locked; it opened with a pull. The hallway emitted a musty smell, the walls were overgrown with mold, and layers upon layers of adverts, akin to psoriasis, were plastered there.

The corridor was narrow, making it impossible for many people to maneuver in case of an emergency. Yang Xiao told the rest to stay behind, guard the entrance to the building, and go nowhere. He and Beibei would head up, and they were to leave promptly upon finding someone.

As Yang Xiao and Beibei entered the stairwell and began ascending the narrow staircase, Qu Mu tightened his grip on his long spear, standing guard alone outside the section entrance.

"You guys, come in a bit and stay alert."

Walking up the dark concrete staircase, Yang Xiao led the way, holding the Ghost Lantern for illumination. The building was very quiet, giving the impression that it was uninhabited, until they reached the fourth floor and saw a black plastic bag in front of the door on the right-hand side.

Beibei used a knife to open the bag, and, unsurprisingly, it contained a bag of household waste, giving off bursts of fishy odor.

Beibei pointed at the door to room 402 with the tip of her knife, and Yang Xiao nodded understandingly; there were residents inside.

This lock was far less sophisticated than the previous vault lock. Beibei looked around, twisted a rusty wire off the stair railing, inserted it into the lock hole, and after a few twists, unlocked the door.

The room was somewhat dark, but as the green light from the Ghost Lantern shone inside, Beibei suddenly widened her eyes; a pair of creepy, dead eyes were staring right at her.